About Me

[in a cabin in the mountains, Jim wakes up and bangs his head on the table he was sleeping under]
Alex Rieger: Jim, are you alright?
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: Yeah...uh ... who are you?
Alex Rieger: I'm Alex. We're friends, we work together.
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: What? are we, lumberjacks?
Alex Rieger: No, we're cabdrivers.
"Reverend" Jim Ignatowski: I bet we don't do much business up here!

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Friday, June 30, 2006

"Our children, we vowed, would never know that. So, well, sorry. It wasn't supposed to be this way," [Sulzberger] continued. "You weren't supposed to be graduating into an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren't supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights," and so on. Forgive us if we conclude that a newspaper led by someone who speaks this way to college seniors has as a major goal not winning the war on terror but obstructing it.

A story about USA Today's contribution to the NYT's terrorist assistance program:

USA Today acknowledged in a "note to our readers" Friday that it could not establish that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the National Security Agency to provide it with customer calling records, as it previously reported.

But spokesman Steve Anderson said "this is an important story that holds up well. At the heart of our report is the fact that NSA is collecting phone call records of millions of Americans."

Why would you want to call attention to this just now? Are they nuts? Truth is, no NSA computer ever looked into who I called and who called me. The NSA looked into who contacted suspected terrorists. And, like it or not, that was a good thing.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Though I suspect that Cindy Sheehan is going on a hunger strike for the same reason Michael Moore needs to go on a hunger strike, what if I'm wrong? What if hunger strikes can somehow alter reality?Just to be safe, I'm going to have an extra banana split on July 4th, and I urge anyone who has an interest in the future of Iraq to do the same. In fact, have two. Plus a big slice of Oreo pie. Remember, you're making up for Cindy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered special services to "find and destroy" the killers of four Russian diplomats taken hostage in Iraq. The head of Russia's security services immediately pledged to see Putin's order carried out.

The Russian government confirmed the four men's deaths this week, after an insurgent group released a video showing two of them being killed.

The group had demanded Russia leave Chechnya and release Muslim prisoners.

"The President gave the order to Russian special services to take all measures for finding and eliminating the criminals who carried out the murder of Russian diplomats in Iraq", the Interfax news agency quoted the Kremlin's press service as saying.

"Finding and eliminating them" makes it sound like a fair trial is not going to be part of the process. Course, that's Putin's business. At least there will be no Russian ACLU nipping at his heels, claiming beheadist abuse. Also:

Separately, the lower house of the Russian parliament approved a statement condemning the killings, and appearing to blame Iraq's "occupying powers".

"The whole responsibility for the situation in Iraq, including guaranteeing the security of its citizens, and also foreign specialists, as before lies on the occupying powers," the statement said

Russia has strongly opposed the US-led military campaign from the beginning.

About Russian opposition to the US military campaign, I'd note: fat lot of good it did them. The horror at Beslan was in 2004, their diplomats are not safe, and I haven't heard anything about the Chechen situation cooling.

Personally, I hope that justice is done in the case of the Russian diplomats. And I hope that we assist the Russians in finding the bad guys. Watch though, if we help deliver the bad guys, and the Russians kill them, and the New York Times finds out about it..... The headlines will be "War Criminal". So, let's not let the NYT find out about it. It seems the only way you can keep information secret these days, I mean really secret, so that nobody hears about it, is to advertise it on Air America.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - America is about to revisit one of the most turbulent decades in its history, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told a religious conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "We're about to enter the '60s again," Dean said, but he was not referring to the Vietnam War or racial tensions.

Dean said he is looking for "the age of enlightenment led by religious figures who want to greet Americans with a moral, uplifting vision."

"The problem is when we hit that '60s spot again, which I am optimistic we're about to hit, we have to make sure that we don't make the same mistakes," Dean added.

From the desk of Paul Belien on Mon, 2006-06-26 21:38The Belgian state is no longer able to guarantee the security of its citizens. On Saturday afternoon Guido Demoor, a 54-year old Flemish train conductor on his way to work, was kicked to death by six “youths” on a crowded bus near Antwerp’s Central Station. The incident recalls the rush-hour murder ten weeks ago of Joe Van Holsbeeck, 17 years of age, in a crowded Brussels Central Station on 12 April.

Guido Demoor, a father of two, intervened when six “youths” got on bus 23 in Antwerp and began to intimidate passengers. There were some forty people on the bus. Demoor asked the “youths” to calm down, whereupon they turned on him, savagely beating and kicking the man. At the next stop thirty passengers fled the bus. The thugs kept beating Demoor. They then pulled the emergency brake and jumped from the bus leaving their victim to die.

Seems like a stiff price to pay for asking the thugs to settle down.

.....“You see what happens if you intervene,” one of Guido Demoor’s colleagues at Belgian Rail is quoted in the newspaper De Morgen today. “If Guido had not opened his mouth he would still be alive. [...] He was a good man. I would not have dared to do what Guido did. I was beaten up once and since then I have become very careful.”

....Problems occur not only in major Belgian cities, such as Antwerp and Brussels, but also in provincial towns, such as Sint-Niklaas. Last week bus drivers in Sint-Niklaas refused to drive out in protest against the aggressive behaviour of immigrant youths on the buses. In today’s De Morgen drivers, who have all asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, relate experiences of “buses being demolished while en route” and of “youths harassing girls, who beg the driver to protect them.” One of the drivers said: “If they refuse to buy a ticket I leave it. I do not want to be beaten up for one and a half euros.”

Is the whole EU headed this direction? Towards daily intimidation by the immigrants they've allowed into their countries? Maybe someone should look for a common thread. Perhaps these thugs are all video-game players, or perhaps they're all techno-rock devotees....

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

“I’d rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep,” he said.

Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe. If you're doing it properly you'll wake-up the kids. I'm fact, I get kind of sheepish if I haven't scared the dogs as well. Causing the neighbors to call the police is always flattering but it's absence isn't necessarily a sign of failure. Still, "while my children are asleep"? Joe, it's well, creepy. Sleep-overs are the thing. Get the kids out of the county if possible. And have a cover-story about breaking wild horses in the house ready in case the neighbors get curious.

So who decides which news pictures get put on the Yahoo site? Whoever it is, I've noticed they have a fondness for catching the president's most bizarre facial expressions. You know the ones, the shutter opens and closes just when he is saying the "fuh" in "fine," and the result is an image that looks for all the world like Gomer Pile during the plunge phase of a prostate exam. So ok. Fine, I say.

But who decides which unflattering pictures make it? I wonder because I ran across the following picture when I was photoshopping blood onto the hands of the ACLU folks. Then, the next day, the picture had disappeared. 404 gone.

And you can see why. The angle makes her look like a little kid. An oddly dressed little kid, stretching to make it to the microphones. Cute, kinda. And that's why I saved the picture even though I didn't photoshop it. It's the contrast between the image and the event; look at the little girl, doing her best to facilitate innocents dying at the hands of terrorists. Awwww, isn't she precious?

Anyway, why is the picture gone now? because she requested it maybe? It's hard to imagine Yahoo honoring requests to take down images. Remember the image of Bush at the lectern, only the top half of his head showing? seems like that was a Yahoo picture for weeks. Or what about this guy:

You can't tell me he's not calling the Yahoo offices every ten minutes, begging them to 404 that image.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Sorry Mr. Keller, you get cheap photoshop blood on your hands too. I know it's cheesy but it will have to do. I know you'll never be honest enough to admit that you've done a bad thing here. A year from now, when someone dies in an act of terror, I know you won't wonder if your exposure of the financial tracking operation played any part in the death. So cheesy or not, it's photoshopped blood for you, Bill. And a promise of an e-mail reminder when your actions bear (real) bloody fruit.

The one on the left is the real ACLU poster. It's updated for the 21st century on the right. And maybe it's true; eventually everyone will need the ACLU. They just haven't gotten around to Christians yet, or families, or the law abiding.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

The NY Times, and others, started it, now the ACLU will tryto follow through and take away one more weapon in the war on terror.

Tony Snow summed up the situation:

"Certainly nobody is going to deny First Amendment rights. But the New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know in some cases might override somebody's right to live"

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Of course these posters are from a different time, and they had a different purpose. They were needed to remind people of something they already agreed with, i.e., you don't help the enemy. And the poster was there to remind you that your carelessness could inadvertently do your country harm.

Today it's still true that information in the wrong hands can cost lives. You don't want terrorists to know what security checks are in place for buyers of large quantities of ammonium nitrate, or where the security cameras are in the employee level of the airport. You don't want them to know how to make an electronic timer, or know how to modify a cell phone. And we have a window of opportunity when the bad guys gather the information and material needed to do terror. Every place along the line they run the risk of flagging themselves as bad guys. Their financial transactions, and phone communications, give us a chance to find some of them.

Sure, some of them. Not all. And the smartest and most sophisticated terrorists may be able to avoid detection. But they don't all avoid detection. And if you're Bill Keller, and you know that you're damaging these tools we use to find terrorists, you have to believe that these tools will never be of use.

And I don't think Bill Keller is stupid. I don't think he believes these tools to be worthless. He must know that some terrorists are not sophisticated -- look at Richard Reid. And he must have the imagination to see how flagging a financial transaction halfway around the world could save the life of a six year old girl from Elgin, Ohio. But I don't think he, or anyone on the left frames this as a liberty/security issue. I think for him it's a Bush/Bush issue. And he has to go out of his way to not think about the implications of publishing this information. He has to think of this as his chance to hurt Bush because he doesn't dare admit to himself who the real victim is -- the six year old from Elgin.

George Bush isn't even up for election, Mr Keller. So here's your updated poster. You'll notice George Bush isn't there.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Warning! A girl was struck by lightning while talking on a mobile phone... The phone must be the cause:

LONDON (Reuters) - People should not use mobile phones outdoors during thunderstorms because of the risk of being struck by lightning, doctors said on Friday.

They reported the case of a 15-year-old girl who was using her phone in a park when she was hit during a storm. Although she was revived, she suffered persistent health problems and was using a wheelchair a year after the accident.

So if she was wearing glasses, were they also a factor? Also, the American Red Cross estimates close to 500 people are struck by lightning each year -- doesn't it stand to reason that some of them are going to be talking on a cell phone? You can't swing a dead cat these days without knocking the cell phone from someone's ear.

Esprit and other doctors at the hospital added in a letter to the British Medical Journal that usually when someone is struck by lightning, the high resistance of the skin conducts the flash over the body in what is known as a flashover.

But if a metal object, such as a phone, is in contact with the skin it disrupts the flashover and increases the odds of internal injuries and death.

And apparently nobody told the doctor that there is no metal on the outside of cell phones. That's plastic, even if it's shiny silver, it's plastic.

The doctors added that three fatal cases of lightning striking people while using mobile phones have been reported in newspapers in China,South Korea and Malaysia.

Oh well, that's proof then. Four. And there was an industrial revolution... and the climate changed, ergo, (which is Latin for "we're scientists so don't question any stupid conclusion that follows") the industrial revolution changed the climate.

Here's the thing -- If you're standing out in a thunderstorm, you need to call someone. Preferably, someone who will tell you to come in from the stinkin storm.

The alleged terrorists — five U.S. citizens, a legal immigrant from Haiti and a Haitian national who was in this country illegally — were expected to appear in federal court in Miami later Friday. They had taken an oath to al-Qaida and sought help from someone they believed was a member of the terrorist organization, the indictment alleged.

Said Gonzales: "The convergence of globalization and technology has created a new brand of terrorism. Today terrorist threats come from smaller more loosely defined cells not affiliated with al-Qaida but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message, and left unchecked these homegrown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al-Qaida."

Gonzales outlined the contents of an indictment handed up Thursday, which identified Narseal Batiste as having recruited and trained others beginning in November 2005 "for a mission to wage war against the United States government," including a plot to destroy the Sears Tower.

To obtain money and support for their mission, the conspirators sought help from al-Qaida, pledged an oath to the terrorist organization and supported an al-Qaida plot to destroy FBI buildings, the four-count indictment charged.

So by all means, let's make it harder to find these guys. Let's let them know what we're doing to track them through communications and banking data. After all, we don't work in the Sears tower. Freedom of the press and all that. Well I'm hoping that the next freedom of the press these guys get is the freedom to have their pasty white cheeks pressed against the shower tiles by their cellmates.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

So I went over to the Huffington Post to see what they were saying about the report of 500 chemical weapon shells found in Iraq.... and I find nothing. Nothing about CW at least. But I did find this headline: "Murtha Cheered At Welcome Home Ceremony For Troops…"

That's odd. Would they really cheer Murtha? Well, if you go to the article, it turns out they cheered when a Murtha representative welcomed them home. (and you kind of have to suspect that they were cheering what the man said rather than endorsing Murtha himself) "Murtha Cheered At Welcome Home Ceremony For Troops…" Sheesh.

Photo shows Greenpeace volunteers working as "organic wheel chocks". They estimate that several trees a year can be saved if truckersturn away from traditional oak chocks. This is real dedication to the environment.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

President Omar al-Bashir made the assertion Tuesday while a jointUnited Nations and African Union team was in Sudan to plan for a large U.N. force to take over peacekeeping in Darfur from the AU's poorly equipped 7,000 troops who have been unable to halt more than three years of violence.

President Bush, who has called for the United Nations to take over peacekeeping in Darfur, reiterated Wednesday that he viewed the government-backed attacks on civilians there as genocide.

Har. Is Omar al-Bashir trying to be funny, or does he really think that blaming the Jews will fly. Or, worse yet, will blaming the Jews fly? The peace camp (peace being the status quo, even including rape and murder so long as we aren't involved) will swallow quite a bit it seems. I'm sure some of them have turned thejewsdidit into a single word. Some of them will certainly buy his second argument:

The U.S. and Europe have been pushing for the quick deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.

"This shall never take place," al-Bashir told reporters at a news conference with South African President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday. "These are colonial forces and we will not accept colonial forces coming into the country," he said in his strongest rejection yet of a U.N. peacekeeping role in Darfur.

"They want to colonize Africa, starting with the first sub-Saharan country to gain its independence. If they want to start colonization in Africa, let them choose a different place."

Remember how Bush went into Iraq to steal their oil and make them a colony? The hard core still believe that.

But of course the Jew-controlled-colonizers argument won't be used unless someone actually intervenes. Ignore the raping and genocide, let it continue, just don't think about it, and that will be peace. Grow a pair and intervene and you open yourself up to the moon crew. I'm sure some of them would welcome US intervention. It would give them more to hate and it would distract them from the fact that they are studiously avoiding the problem.

I usually think of Libertarians as the weird uncle of political parties; doesn't mean I dislike any of them, some of my best friends etc. Anyway, Libertarian Alliance has issued a report on the Belgian Homeschooling kerfuffle that seems right on. They find:

* That Dr Paul Belien, Editor of The Brussels Journal, has faced official and semi-official intimidation over an article he published in favour of the right to self-defence;

* That Dr Belien and his wife, Dr Alexandra Colen (who is a Member of the Belgian Parliament), face a systematic attack on their right to educate their children at home.

Commenting on the Report, Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, says:

"For a journalist, there can be few rights more fundamental than to freedom of speech. For parents, there can be no right more fundamental than of being able to bring up their children in what they consider the right values.

"We should all be shocked that these rights have been systematically violated in a country that is a member state of the European Union and of the Council of Europe - and that not long ago passed laws allowing citizens of other Western countries such as Israel to be put on trial for alleged offences committed outside Belgium.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Seen the Connie Chung video? Beware, you won't be able to decide -- do you rip off your ears or gouge out your eyes first?

Hey, and apart from the assault on the senses, I do have a problem with millionaires complaining about their "tiny" paychecks. Could she possibly be more out of touch?

Aaannnd... OK out of touch, but I do kind of admire her having the guts to do this. You know, it's kind of a William Shatner move. Course Connie may have had a few drinks to get up the courage, and maybe a handful of pills, and possibly family sized bottles of cough medicine were involved, but she did have the guts to finally go out there ... so kudos on that anyway.

The story about Paul Belien's troubles brought a note from Henry Cate concerning an ongoing Carnival of Homeschooling. I'm a little late with the link - this week's location will be at Homeschoolbuzz.com. I'm happy to support the effort though we don't do any homeschooling in the lumbercamp. I've pretty much put the TV in charge of my child's development.

In hopping around the various homschooling sites I came across other coverage of the Paul Belien situation. Most of it was supportive but one post gave me pause. It's concerning a post by one Peter van Zuidam on HSWatch. (a Yahoo group I believe)

Another thing is that the mother in question, Dr. Alexandra Colen is a member of parliament for the party Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), the political heir of the party Vlaams Blok (Flemish Block), which was forbidden by Belgian courts in 2005 because of their consequent racism. As far as I know, Vlaams Belang is led by the people who formerly led Vlaams Blok. Vlaams Belang has a racist reputation in Belgium, I must say.

From what I've read, you can translate "racist reputation" to "islamophobic," which is a term used pretty loosely these days, especially in the EU. It's also instructive to note that a poll last year expects Vlaams Belang to be the largest party in the next election. (sorry, I don't know if that has happened yet) Hey, and really, I know very little about Belgian politics, but this hatred of Vlaams Belang seems to be a very political thing. I think it's safe to call them conservative but what does that mean? That they're racist? Well, a Belgian liberal would expect (conservative) me to be a homosexual-persecuting, death-penalty demanding, bible-thumping madman if he listens to some American liberals. And he'd be wrong, on every count. So I'm hesitant to take one man's interpretation as to what Vlaams Belang is.

Besides, I've been reading Paul Belien for some time now and I don't see a bit of racism in him. He has shown concern over unrestricted immigration, yes. He has pointed out the problems with Islamic immigrants setting up a state within a state, but hey, if you've seen the automobile roasts in France, well, didn't you already suspect that something was wrong?

So OK, I don't think Paul Belien is a racist and Peter van Zuidam does. He writes:

So these parents forget to mention in their public defense one important aspect, that an inspector cannot reject HE, just because he’s in a bad mood about HE or about certain parents. Several HE-ers all over Europe would IMHO feel glad when they their supervision laws were checked and balanced this way.

Alright, I'm confused then, because later he writes:

Apart from this aspect, these parents point out 2 flaws in this homeschool statute that, to be honest, didn’t cross my mind first. The legal form by which a Flemish inhabitant intends to homeschool each school year makes the parents promise to send their kids to a school straightaway and without having the legal option of fighting this gov’t decision if their home education has been found insufficient in two subsequent inspections.

One other flaw is that the inspector is not obliged to give specific reasons for his decision to reject a homeschool situation. He may just write down his negative conclusion, that’s all.

So the inspector doesn't have to give his reasons. And you can't appeal. But Mr. van Zuidam thinks the Beliens would be safe trusting their children's future to a bureaucrat who doesn't have to explain his decision. Being a member of the Vlaams Belang couldn't affect his decision by any chance, could it? It affected how Peter van Zuidam sees the case. Odd too, because he concludes:

Moreover, the unavailability of a legal path to oppose an inspector’s disapproval in effect reduces the benefit of the doubt that the parent is supposed to have to a mere matter of theory. There’s no way to ask a judge if he would think that an inspector’s disapproval would be shared by ‘each reasonably thinking human being’. The only way to fight this indeed seems to act disobediently, to not submit a homeschool intent form, and ask a penal judge if the legislation concerned meets the criteria set out in the ECHR.

In other words, the only thing to do is what Paul Belien has done, but he's a racist so withhold your support. Well, Peter is right, except for the racist part, and the withhold your support part. Oh, and I was kidding about the TV being in charge of Lumberkid's development -- she's a fantastic student and I'm just goofy-proud of her.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

And once again the powers that be have shown their good sense by having picked the lumberjack as Best Dad in the Whole Wide World. I'd like to join all the other Best Dads in thanking the academy. Really, it was my pleasure.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Yesterday my husband Paul Belien, the editor of this website, was summoned to the police station and interrogated. He was told that the Belgian authorities are of the opinion that, as a homeschooler, he has not adequately educated his children and, hence, is neglecting his duty as a parent, which is a criminal offence. The Ministry of Education has asked the judiciary to press charges and the judiciary told the police to investigate and take down his statement.

It appears that the Belgian authorities are again considering prosecution – the second time in barely two months. This time the claim is not that my husband posted allegedly “racist” texts on this website but that he is failing his children.

The conflict isn't surprising, Paul Belien, through the Brussels Journal, has pointed out truths that the Belgian authorities would like to ignore. But who knew that the opposition would be stupid enough to involve his kids? I suspect they're in for a hell of a fight.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Best of the Web at OJ of the WSJ has a reminder of what his positions have been.

The threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but as I said, it is not new. It has been with us since the end of that war, and particularly in the last four years we know after Operation Desert Fox failed to force him to reaccept them, that he has continued to build those weapons. He has had a free hand for four years to reconstitute these weapons, allowing the world, during the interval, to lose the focus we had on weapons of mass destruction and the issue of proliferation."--Oct. 9, 2002

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Over at the Huffington Post, the faithful are still pretty sure Carl Rove is guilty of something. One of them is claiming that, at the very least, he's guilty of being chubby and queer. Oh, and that Fitzgerald was bought off with a position on the Supreme Court. Fun to watch the shiny as tin-foiled heads are bowed in dejection.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Seen it? I dunno, I'm kind of impressed that at least some of them have a sense of humor. Usually I think of the left as a bunch of drab, self-absorbed, churls. Seeing them capable of a little humor is nice. (assuming they didn't hire guys like me [I could have been had cheap, btw] to do this for them)

So what if the pod people are trying to spin Zarqawi into no big deal? Who cares, when at this very moment Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is in the abyss wondering why his virgins are in flames and poking him with forks.

Tenth Circle Added To Rapidly Growing HellCITY OF DIS, NETHER HELL–After nearly four years of construction at an estimated cost of 750 million souls, Corpadverticus, the new 10th circle of Hell, finally opened its doors Monday.

The Blockbuster Video-sponsored circle, located in Nether Hell between the former eighth and ninth levels of Malebolge and Cocytus, is expected to greatly alleviate the overcrowding problems that have plagued the infernal underworld in recent years. The circle is the first added to Hell in its countless-millennia history.

"A nightmarishly large glut of condemned spirits in recent years necessitated the expansion of Hell," inferno spokesperson Antedeus said. "The traditional nine-tiered system had grown insufficient to accommodate the exponentially rising numbers of Hellbound."

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Also in the Washington Post, news of the glorious up-blowing. And I expected them to elevate the thug murderer al Zarqawi to "insurgent" -- I suppose it's better than "freedom fighter." But when did al Qaeda become an "insurgency group?

Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born high-school dropout whose leadership of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq made him the most wanted man in the country, was killed along with several other people near the city of Baqubah, the officials said.

According to al Liby, the French deserve destruction for France's prohibition on religious symbols. He named in particular the wearing of head coverings for Islamic women involved with government or educational institutions. French soil, he declared, must be reduced to "an ocean of blood." This event will signal "the beginning of the end of Western Civilization."

Al Liby concluded that France's disrespect for Islam was another example of Western contempt for Islamic values, so it's now time to apply those Islamic values and burn the country to the ground.

Al Liby didn't stop with France. After rising up and reducing France to ashes, al Liby advised his followers to take the uprising to Norway and Denmark, who deserve punishment for allowing cartoon images of Muhammad to be published. He says the cartoons, which depicted Muhammad as the bloodthirsty founder of a violent religion that preaches hatred and jihad against infidels, were "offensive" to Muslims. A 40-minute videotape released last week by an al-Qaida leader living in France exhorted French Muslims to rise up and punish France for what Anas al Liby calls France's disrespect for Islam.

Gets kind of old doesn't it? Not the "you called us violent so we must kill you and your children too," that's getting to be a mantra. What gets old is the silence from "moderate Muslims". Sure only 5 or 10% of Muslims are bug-eyed crazy, but it looks like that situation is just fine with the other 90 or 95%. How many of them will join the bug-eyed should push come to shove? And I'm still looking -- has anyone found a country in which in which Muslim immigrants get along with their hosts? Where aren't they "disrespected"? And shouldn't this tell them something?

What is it with this Pascua Lama project? As I noted earlier (Are We Lumberjacks?: Fwd:Fwd:Fwd: Conspiracy) the first conspiracy e-mail I got named all the wrong people as "International Advisory" members -- the real U.S. members are all democrats, not GWB or his dad.

So now I run across a "news story" that claims, "Environmentalists and others opposed to Pascua Lama have pointed to the track record of Barrick Gold, which was founded in 1983 by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi." What? OK, It's obvious this whole Stop-Pascua-Lama campaign has become one huge intelligence test. To find out if you've passed, google "Peter Munk", founder.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Seagulls shouldn't fly between Bisons and Bulls. One of the birds found that out during last Sunday's Triple-A minor league game between the Buffalo Bisons and the Durham Bulls. The Bisons were batting in the bottom of the eleventh when a seagull flew between the pitcher's mound and home plate just as Durham's pitcher released the ball.

The ball hit the bird. The batter swung at the ball and missed. The ball got away from the catcher. Since it was a third strike, the batter ran to first but was thrown out by the catcher to end the inning.

Meanwhile, the stunned bird lay on the ground in front of home plate.

While the umpires convened to discuss the bizarre play, a Buffalo player carried the seagull off the field. The bird later flew away.

Remember the bird Randy Johnson beaned? No flying away -- not even the possibility seeing as he knocked the critter right out from under it's feathers. Looked like a hand grenade had gone off inside a pillow. Vaporized it.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

I almost missed this story, gee, maybe I wish I had. Anyway, got pointed to it from NRO. WaPo opinion pages:

What Happens When There Is No Plan B?By Dana L.Sunday, June 4, 2006; B01

The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn't want. Well, not literally, but let me explain.

I am a 42-year-old happily married mother of two elementary-schoolers. My husband and I both work, and like many couples, we're starved for time together. One Thursday evening this past March, we managed to snag some rare couple time and, in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm.

The next morning, after getting my kids off to school, I called my ob/gyn to get a prescription for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill that can prevent a pregnancy -- but only if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. As we're both in our forties, my husband and I had considered our family complete, and we weren't planning to have another child, which is why, as a rule, we use contraception. I wanted to make sure that our momentary lapse didn't result in a pregnancy.

The receptionist, however, informed me that my doctor did not prescribe Plan B. No reason given. Neither did my internist. The midwifery practice I had used could prescribe it, but not over the phone, and there were no more open appointments for the day. The weekend -- and the end of the 72-hour window -- was approaching.

But I needed to meet my kids' school bus and, as I was pretty much out of options......

Great googily moogily. Conservative politics made her get an abortion? What wonderland is she living in? She made herself get an abortion. And somehow she isn't embarrassed to have the details printed in the newspaper. Never mind that Plan B isn't illegal, it just wasn't something her particular doctor would prescribe. And never mind that some people consider Plan B to be an abortion; just a cleaner and less obvious one. This woman wants the world to hear her complaint that avoiding pregnancy just wasn't convenient enough for her.

Anyway, the full measure of her childishness comes out in her online chat discussing the article:

Dana L.: While you may feel my anger was misdirected, I feel angry not just for what happened to me and my family but at the whole situation. What about people who find themselves in this situation on a Thursday night after having been raped?

Reminds me of high school injustices from long ago. Remember how, if you were caught doing wrong, you could twist logic to somehow justify being guilty? "Yeah, but what if I hadn't stolen the mascot? They had no right to make me open my locker." Yeah, what if she'd been raped? What if this wasn't just a case of an irresponsible adult killing her own baby because it would be inconvenent to have another one?

Monday, June 05, 2006

Emlyn Roberts saved Rolo from death as a lamb and has since raised her at home with his sheepdogs.

Rolo enjoys being taken for a walk on the lead and watching TV with her master, reports the North Wales Daily Post.

And she has even started herding with her sheepdog mates, although so far she's only been let loose on ducks.....

....."She sometimes comes into the house and sits there watching TV with us. She eats absolutely anything you put in front of her. What she really likes is nuts."

Re the "eats anything you put in front of her," that's where lumberdog is a real asset. When cooking I can call her over to clean up absolutely anything I've dropped on the floor. Broccoli, celery, apple, anything. I've been tempted to use her for squashed bug clean-up but no, even I wouldn't do that.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Immigrant children should be allowed to go to the front of the waiting lists for day care spots, and should get free care if their parents are strapped for cash.

While failed promises to provide day care for all remains a sensitive political issue, Rita Kumar, government adviser on immigration and integration, adds a new element to the debate, newspaper Dagsavisen reports.

Kumar is the head of KIM (The Contact Committee for Immigrants and the Authorities) a government-appointed advisory body made up of representatives from immigrant organizations, political parties and relevant governmental agencies and ministries.

Plenty of documentation exists indicating that early integration and language education is decisive for how immigrant children manage in school and society, while Norway's education system has had poor reviews in this respect from the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development).

OK, so the development aspect might be a reason for preferential treatment, but I have the feeling this just more of Norwegians being Norwegian -- being nice. And of course their good intentions will be for naught.

And this is why the pointy head remark:

Kumar admits that one problem is that minority parents often opt against day care, and so she is willing to discuss some form of obligatory day care.

And that's just crazy. If we're talking about Islamic immigrants, the last thing you want to do is influence their children in a way goes against the parents' will. Really, I think you might have to say that about all families. But this is the culture that honor-kills its daughters for wearing jeans; I'd advise caution. Lots of it.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Looking at the screen, I thought for sure I was going to need to repair the computer. Surely those pixels couldn't really be saying, "Couric Hopes to End 'Pretentious Era' in News." Then a cold thought, maybe this is how insanity begins. Maybe I've been hit on the head, or I'm still dreaming... No after a few clicks I find out it's just more proof we're living in Wonderland. NewsBusters confirmed:

This just in from Reuters, dateline Las Vegas: "Addressing the annual convention of CBS affiliates, [Katie] Couric predicted that the 'pretentious era' of the evening-news anchor is going to be a thing of the past." The headline, at least on the New York Times website, is "Couric Hopes to End 'Pretentious Era' in News."

........Didn't this woman just sit at the center of a wildly extravagant three-hour tribute to her greatness on Wednesday morning? And to get up the next day, and say this?

I suppose I should be used to this. Wasn't Dan Rather recently pontificating on ethics and accuracy in the news? Oh, and the Democrats, they're going after a "culture of corruption."OK so false alarm. I just have to tweak my grain-of-salt threshold. Course the downside is that I won't be a bit surprised now when the headlines read, "Michael Moore Mocks Slobs," or "Hillary Calls for a Return to Sincerity."

Well, it's a two way street in theory anyway. If they can use podium angle abuse against the Prez, then turnabout is good for the gander and all. Except for one thing. I tried over and over to make Michael Moore look bad but the lower I moved his disturbing head, the better the picture looked. In fact, the man looks pretty good if you podium-cover him up to about mid forehead.

And no, he's not a Burger King spokesman. I just put that in. I'll bet that if you get the BK annual report though, Michael will be listed as an asset.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

I followed the link this morning so I've forgotten where I found it but this is from a Ted Nugent interview, well sort of free-form interview:

"But since we're on the subject, what is so funny about peace, love and understanding?"

"You want to know how to get peace, love and understanding?" he replies. "Who doesn't know this? The Ku-Klux-Klan? The Black Panthers? Child rapists? How do you get peace, love and understanding? First of all you have to find all the bad people. Then," Nugent adds, "you kill them."

I know it's wrong but I kind of get a tickle thinking about all the moonbat types this guy upsets. "Do ya see that Arianna, he advocates killing bad people."

Hard to believe anyone is surprised by Reuters distributing an unflattering photo of the president. Hey, there was a death threat, or something very much like one, posted at LGF that came from a Reuters network computer. See these aren't news organizations anymore, they're more like advocacy groups. Still it's a funny picture.

I've got an ID badge that is very similar. The lady taking the picture was very rushed and my image came out with just the top three-quarters of my head, no neck, just a floating head.. Now here's a guy who could benefit from a Reuters clip job.

OK, one last photo. Could it be Matt Lauer thinks he died and went to heaven?